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Tuesday, 29 November 2011

Unusually for me, I do actually have a new pattern for you today - unusually because it's rare for me to actually get things done on time. This pattern was produced as a result of many requests for poncho patterns. Ponchos came and went about 2/3 years ago and have now come back somewhat earlier than expected (these fashion trends usually take about 20 years to return but this one is back after just the blink of an eye). The knitting companies seem to have missed this one too so we (when I say "we" I mean "I") rattled up this poncho (if by "rattled" you understand me to mean that I knitted it once, checked the tension and size, pulled the whole dratted thing back [not to be recommended with an Astrakan yarn], re-checked my tension and then re-knitted it].

We had some Katia Astrakan yarn which we thought would lend itself perfect to a poncho pattern with no shaping (shaping with Astrakan can be fiddly) and would also be perfect for small girls. What small girl can resist a bubbly, cosy poncho?:

You can, of course, add stitches around the neck for a collar or tassels around the bottom but we just decorated ours with pretty little buttons:

The pattern can be found here and comes in sizes from a 2 year old up to a small adult. Pattern is free when you buy the yarn (the pattern is showing at £3.00 but we'll deduct that if you order the Astrakan). Pattern on its own is £3.00 (if that makes sense). Astrakan is a funny tension so, although you could fiddle and calculate for a different yarn we do, as always, recommend the yarn its knitted in.

And you've just got enough time to knit one (or two) in time for Christmas!

Monday, 28 November 2011

Yesterday we made the most of the good weather and photographed a few garments which have been in the "to do" list for some time.

Remember the disastrous start to my Noro 4ply sweater (knitted [and pulled back] in France)? Well it finally got finished a few weeks ago, has been in the window and is now available for all to see:

I really love it! I love the colours and I love the shape and I love the 2 combined. I did work hard to get the colours on the front shoulders and the sleeves to match (call me anal if you like - many do) but I think it works and I'm very pleased with it (especially after its inauspicious start).

Some time ago I also knitted up some Noro socks and we'd feared that the colourway was discontinued; however, it's back and back in stock - shade 188 - hoorah!:

(and, yes, the socks match - sorry!). Actually a first for me in sock knitting as most of my pairs are knitted "as they come". These "came" in a pair!

Saturday, 26 November 2011

Today is the day we turn our Christmas lights on in Penzance and all the traders have been working hard to make it a great day for our customers. We've had bands playing in the street all day, plus the fab Samba band and loads of stalls and other goodies and it's all been a bit manic but fun - could do with it being a bit colder though to get us all in the mood.

Despite all of that I've managed to get my fantastic new sock yarn onto the site! Inspired by the painting of Vincent Van Gogh all the colours relate to his paintings and have the relevant painting on the ball band. So, for example, we have Sunflowers:

Thursday, 24 November 2011

It's 8pm, my feet are sore and I'm STARVING and Tracey and I have just finished putting away 10 sacks of James Brett yarn which arrived at lunch time. So - stocks are good in pretty much everything - have a browse through the James Brett section and see what grabs our fancy! Passion Chunky, Rustic Aran, Woodlander and Tints DK are selling particularly well at the moment here in the shop - and, of course, the wonderful Marble Chunky which never stops selling!

Patterns will be updated tomorrow - they need to be sorted, filed away here and stock levels checked and then updated on the site - it all takes time!

Last night I finished the third (and final) Christmas wreath - in pink!

I have no idea how many balls of Can Can and Can Can Glitz that I've demonstrated here in the shop and knitted for friends and family but, about half way through this one I realised I was knitting it the wrong way round (ie with the flat side facing, rather than the curly side).

Whilst I was knitting one of the 2 brain cells I was operating on kept thinking "this doesn't look right" and the other brain cell was saying "just keep going, it'll be fine". Eventually number 1 brain cell thought, "hang on, let's just stop and look at this" and then my (sleeping) 3rd brain cell woke up and said, "doh".

I was calm on the outside as I ripped it all back but the language inside my head was unrepeatable!

You can buy the pink wreath kit here and they'll all be on display in the shop window from tomorrow (Friday).

Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Today is going to be a hotch potch of new things added to the site to bring to your attention. First off is the white and silver Christmas Wreath (which I'm very pleased with the took about 5 hours to make in total - 3 hours to knit [if, like me, you're not very quick] and a couple to put together:

I've also added a new pattern book for Debbie Bliss's Andes yarn - this is an amazingly luxurious blend of alpaca and silk, which is unbelievably soft. Debbie has decided, very sensibly, to add new patterns to existing yarns rather than overload us with more new yarns so we can expect this to be the first in a number of pattern books to back up existing yarns. A couple of samples from the new book are a chevron top:

(although Tracey got a bit sniffy about the latter as the cable is knitted in one piece so goes up one side and down the other - Tracey [who is a bit anal about such things] thinks it should be knitted in two pieces so they either both go up or both go down. Whatever floats your boat!! If you too are anal, like Trace, you could {of course} knit the edge in two pieces!)

There are 2 really nice new colours in Stylecraft's Extra Special DK - the popularity of this yarn has, I think, even taken Stylecraft by surprise so new colours and patterns keep on coming (could be something to do with the price - just £2.30 for 100g). New colours are Atlantis:

which is full of loads of patterns and - given the number of patterns - is excellent value for money at just £4.95. There are black, white and grey (it says "gray" on the cover but I just can't bring myself to spell it that way) fairisle patterns and little girls' patterns in the lovely Angel mohair yarn.

Finally - I think - for now we have new colours in Galazy - that wonderful yarn with sequins in it. Check out these beauties:

Having started off in muted blacks, gre(a)ys and cream and mixtures of the 3, we've now gone wild with pink, purple and red - FABULOUS!!

ALSO if you haven't seen it yet, there's a really lovely sweater in this month's Knitting magazine (Christmas Issue, No 97 - don't get confused with the December issue) in Galaxy by Pat Menchini. I'm not going to do it in stripes but I AM going to knit it for Christmas!

But I can't start that until I've knitted one more Christmas wreath. FB wants me to tell you that my assertion yesterday that it'll be on the site for tomorrow is ludicrous as, apparently, I have other work to do and I need to sleep and eat at some point. The next (and final) {pink}wreath will, therefore be here on Thursday. Apparently there is life beyond knitting wreaths - who knew?!

PS: Have just had a delivery of NEW SOCK YARN - be still by beating heart .......

Monday, 21 November 2011

My New Year's Resolution last year was to not work on Sundays and I've stuck to it pretty religiously - ha!

So the blog update which didn't happen on Saturday night because I got in so late also didn't happen yesterday because I stuck to my principles so now it's Monday and there's just too much to say!

Tracey had an inspired idea last week and I worked on it over the weekend and it's now come to fruition. Please be upstanding for our Christmas Wreath!:

Just what all knitters need to show their knitting passion to the world, this easy to knit Christmas wreath is made from one ball of Can Can Glitz and now comes in a kit, which includes the yarn, wreath frame and 6 Christmas baubles.

We are really, really pleased with how it's worked out so are now making more in other colours - all being well we'll have a white and silver one tomorrow and a pink one by Wednesday (as we know how many people love a pink Christmas).

The pattern is incredibly simple and everyone we've showed it to in the shop (and there've been a few, including one rep) has gone "Wow". We're pleased and hope you will be too.

Loads of other things to catch up on but - critically - you need to know that the Debbie Bliss Angel patterns which were in her spring/summer magazine (sold out long ago) are now in a new book - yay! - A Fine Romance. Great name, great yarn!

Wednesday, 16 November 2011

My "Wednesday afternoons are for going home and typing up knitting patterns" have, of late, turned into "Wednesday afternoons are for inputting new stuff onto the website". Which is fine - except I have a new cowl still sitting in the bag looking sad which has been in the bag since mid October - that's a whole month and I, very nearly, have a very cute poncho waiting to be written up as well. What to do? Well, there's a choice - either put more hours in each day or put more days in each week - I'll leave someone better than me to sort that one out.

In the meantime, there are more new things on the site! First is a new slightly brushed chunky with a touch of mohair. Remember Brushstrokes Chunky?:

Well - new Inspiration Chunky - is exactly the same makeup as them (80% acrylic, 10% wool, 10% mohair) but in plain colours:

All the colours are really "now" and at only £3.30 per ball it's a really, really good value yarn. There are some good patterns, too, although it's a standard chunky so will knit up to all your faves - here are some of the new ones (down the left hand side of the yarn page, as always):

and 4 patterns for girls:

Second new yarn for today is new colours in Life Super Chunky. This yarn was new last season and, after a slow start, went mad! I knitted this - remember?:

Tuesday, 15 November 2011

The very briefest of updates - SARI SILK IS BACK IN STOCK!! - apologies for the delay for everyone who's been waiting but our supplier had problems getting stock themselves. We've got 50 100g skeins and they're all GORGEOUS!!! and - amazingly - THE PRICE REMAINS THE SAME!! (and that doesn't happen too often these days, does it?) Free pattern for this:

Saturday, 12 November 2011

Radio silence hasn't been caused by the return of the black dog - more a case of not-enough-hours-in-the-day syndrome and a bad case of when-I-get-home-I-just-want-to-veg-in-front-of-the-telly virus. The earliest I left the shop this week was 6.30pm (except Wednesday, my supposed half day, when I left at 5.30). This is, in fact, all good news but now it's 7pm on Saturday and I was up at 6.30 this morning and I'm now lusting after my warm, cosy bed.

Before I crash into the land of nod, I'll update you on all the new goodies which have been occupying us: we had a huge delivery from Stylecraft on Tuesday so stock levels are updated and there are new yarns to follow (on Monday, all being well). Then later on Tuesday we had a big delivery of scarf yarn from Spain. Loads of balls of Triana - these are the new colours:

which has a proper pattern (!) and knits into this:

And also a load of new Triana Lux (Triana with glitz), these are the new colours:

Saturday, 5 November 2011

Another brief post to highlight more new lovelies in stock. The very popular yarn, Haze, has now been joined by Haze Glitter which - as the name suggests - is the same yarn but with glitter added. This is Haze:

and this is Haze Glitter:

One of the amazing things about this yarn is its yardage, so we knitted this:

in just 3 balls.

Final new yarn is "Garland" - a chenille yarn, with glitter - perfect for scarves. 1 ball makes 1 scarf - ideal - it's been flying out - guess people are frantically knitting for Christmas!:

Tonight we're going out with friends and tomorrow I'm manically knitting sample swatches for an Ethical Fashion Exhibition in London - the bad news is they're late - the good news is they're all from Cornish Organic so are lovely (and quick) to knit. Eldest son has to watch the DVD of The Tempest for English so I loyally said I'd watch it with him - life ain't all bad!

About Me

I own Knit Wits wool shop in Penzance, Cornwall and my husband and I also own Cornish Organic Wool Ltd.
I have two sons (G and T) who are 20 and 18 and are very busy and very sporty (rugby, hockey, athletics, cycling, shooting and fishing).
Sadly, owning a wool shop and wool brand means I'm often far too busy to knit - as can be seen by my blog which usually rambles on about how I haven't managed to knit rather than anything I may have completed.
We also have a menagerie of animals including chickens, cats and a guinea pig.
Life is very busy and very woolly (in a wool-drying-all-round-the-kitchen way rather than a things-I've-finished-knitting-today way).